🗺️ build a labyrinth, not a funnel
hello friends,
I’ve been centering in the realization that I want a business practice that feels, above all, deeply restful. that true prosperity and success, is, for me, the systems that support surrendering to the yin.
as a recovering accomplishment addict with a long history of rest-less-ness and a conditioned baseline state of constant viligance, when it comes to Doing the Work, I used to be unable to shake off the feeling that I was never doing enough. this has completely changed in the last year, and I’m so relieved. I’m reconditioning myself to enjoy the feeling of ease.
I’m realizing that success is not about discipline, so much as it is about design: designing your dance with time and creative energy, like doing taichi. then, clarifying your desires, like sharpening a blade. trusting that the rest will come.
~
🍊 this week: I wrote build a labyrinth, not a funnel, where I offer an alternative to traditional marketing, and the joy of missing out on platforms, where I offer alternatives to social/content platforms. I drew a snake and a moon, and share visual diaries from my archives.
🌳 build a labyrinth, not a funnel
a world-building framework for growing a business that feeds the creative soul and the material life.
(when I started writing this over the weekend, I didn’t know I had so much to say about marketing funnels. then I couldn’t stop writing. it encapsulates thoughts on offering/launching/selling that have been swirling around my head for the last year).
build a labyrinth, not a funnel — kening zhu
a slow, nourishing alternative to traditional marketing
🎙️ the joy of missing out on platforms
years ago, I used to have mild anxiety and FOMO for not being on social media, and/or Substack. since letting that pressure go, I’ve felt more centered than ever in sharing my work, my way — and imagining the alternate possibilities of the internet wild.
LISTEN ON APPLE | LISTEN ON SPOTIFY
the joy of missing out on platforms — kening zhu
a vision of alternative possibilities for art & business, off-platform
🐍 snake & moon study
on the beginning of a new sketchbook practice, and how this snake & moon emerged almost spontaneously, by itself.
snake and moon study & starting a sketchbook — kening zhu
the start of a new sketchbook
🔮 curations from the archives
365 days of moon journaling
an emotional history documented in moons (2017)
365 days of moon journaling — kening zhu
It's been one year since I started painting a circle a day to document how I feel. Here are seven things I've learned from painting 365 moons.
ways to rest in everyday life
bullets to self / notes on how to rest (2023)
ways to rest in everyday life — kening zhu
an ongoing list of my ways to rest without going on vacation.
infinite creative possibilities for a digital world
imagining what a digital world can be (2024)
digital world-building: a map of creative possibilities — kening zhu
an exploration of 6 types of things to create for your digital world.
7 processes for energetically aligned business flow
a realization that business starts with energy (2023)
7 processes for energetically aligned business flow — kening zhu
business flow for creatives — or, on building a business system aligned with your creative energy
visual diaries of a cross-country roadtrip
this is from the end of a 5 year relationship. I helped my then-boyfriend move across the country, and documented our one month travels in a cheap sketchbook and watercolor pencils. most of these I painted in the car. (2016)
📝 notes (what's rolling around my head)
life as a character study: as I’ve been returning to the tango scene and dancing more in Istanbul — I’ve found a way to make my (very mixed) experiences 100% useful to art. I used to be disgusted by the Istanbul tango scene because it felt like a portrait of competitive macho-ism and fucked up gender/power relationships, at its worst, in an already excessively male-dominated culture. when I first experienced this, two years ago, it triggered a rage in me that I didn’t know what to do with. now that I’m more emotionally equipped to handle it, I’ve decided to go out, and think of each outing as writing research, ie, as a character studies: an opportunity to observe people, motives, mannerisms, characteristics, and dynamics of this ridiculous desire charade. then, of course, I’ll write about it.
making handmade writing journals: bookbinding, like coding, feels like a new practice that could lead to an explosion of possibility. I’m too picky about journals, so I thought I might just learn how to make my own.
making digital widgets of living things: like the phases of the moon synced with the calendar, or a seed that actually grows into a tree after a few years, or illustrated weather that automatically updates on time/location — which I’d share like digital house art for anyone to use on their website.
🍄 inspiration log
what i’ve been enjoying lately.
gone girl by gillian flynn. after feeling so triggered by it that I avoided it for a decade, I devoured this book in a week. it was the kind of book I’d read at breakfast, while brushing my teeth, while cooking, and before going to sleep — it was that gripping. one day, I’ll share the story of my strange relationship with gone girl — how my then-boyfriend left the cinema at the climatic scene, fainted, hit his head on the bathroom floors, and had internal bleeding in his brain. I spent the next month at his bedside in the hospital, realizing I was trapped in a relationship I no longer wanted to be in. how fitting.
my tiny tarot zine by amelia hruby. my dear friend and her podcast — my tiny tarot practice — has been a companion for me many mornings after my card draw of the day. she just created a 200 page digital zine, and I know it’ll be a precious resource to refer back to.
🐑 download my sleep zine
two years ago, I made a tiny zine about sleep. as I’m deepening my relationship to sleep, and the yin of being, I’m returning to this again and thinking about adding a part II. take a look here.
sleep zine: on nurturing a new ritual — kening zhu
i made a ritual zine about sleep
🌸 goodbye for now...
until next week, my friends.
to gentle effortless days ahead,
🪼 kening
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🗺️ this is guide.notes 45, a weekly letter on creative alchemy & growing digital worlds.
🍃 find me on my podcast: botanical studies of internet magic.
🪷 explore working with me via my 1:1 containers: advising, mentorships, and creation services.
💧 send me a gift. water my world.